Vamp or Not? Tower of Evil

A 1972 film directed by Jim O'Connolly this is a very quick and dirty ‘Vamp or Not?’

The film starts with two fisherman, John Gurney (George Coulouris) and his son Hamp (Jack Watson), braving the fog to land on Snape Island. They find a group of butchered teens and one survivor, Penelope (Candace Glendenning), who is mad with fear and who kills Gurney.

She is hospitalised in a catatonic state and part of the film is the doctors trying to unlock the secret her shutdown mind holds.

Meanwhile one of the kids was murdered with a Phoenician spear made of solid gold and a museum sends a team to the island as they believe there must be caves holding a Phoenician burial chamber from 3000 years before – probably dedicated to the fertility god Baal. Hamp and a relative Brom (Gary Hamilton) take them out along with Evan Brent (Bryant Haliday) a PI hired by Penelope’s family to prove she didn’t murder her friends. However they are not alone on the island and Hamp, Brom and Brent each know more than they are letting on.

the lighthouse

What follows is a murder mystery with a touch of the gaillo about it, but not a sniff of the supernatural. Indeed the supernatural is barely hinted at – the nearest they get being one of the kids, Mae (Seretta Wilson), suggesting the place is evil and saying she sensed it (due to her being psychic) – and certainly doesn’t raise its head during the main sequence of the film with the museum team. So why the ‘Vamp or Not?’

speared

The film has several titles. I watched it as Tower of Evil, it was released in America as Horror on Snape Island and the French TV release was titled Le Vampire de L'ïle du Diable – or the Vampire of the Island of the Devil. There is absolutely no reason for the inclusion of the vampire part of the title – false advertising I’m afraid. Not Vamp.

The imdb page is here.

Apocalypse and the Beauty Queen – review

Director: Thomas Smugala

Release date: 2005

Contains spoilers

Sometimes I just don’t hate films as much as others seem to do. Sometimes I stumble across a film that has a sub-genre theme and give it a whirl and am surprised. Perhaps not overwhelmed and shocked, but at least a little bit taken aback by the film.

Meet Apocalypse and the Beauty Queen, a low budget film that – by all that is sane in film watching, and more so in critiquing – should deserve to vanish into an oblivion but actually manages to hold its own – at least a little. It is also a film that has a Báthory aspect.

Beverly Hynds as Amber

We are in a post-apocalyptic America – the world hasn’t been ended by zombies or zompires, not by pestilence, nuclear devastation or GM crops. Rather the power grid has failed and the world has slumped into chaos as a result. In this particular county, a former Beauty Queen and super model Amber Bathory (Beverly Hynds) has taken control. At first it seemed by popular demand – she displayed particularly sharp survival skills and leadership. However, by the point we start to observe the story she is a despot and the people are starving.

Matthew meets Sylvie

Girls are going missing also and we meet Sylvie (Courtney Kocak), who lives with her “uncle” Reggie (Gunnar Hansen), an alcoholic tombstone carver. Sylvie falls into the hands of Amber’s captain of the guard Matthew (Carlos Gonzalez-Vio, the Mortal Instruments: City of Bones), who offers food and then drugs her with wine. She is taken to serve Amber but he falls for her and it is Sylvie’s presence and escape from Amber that destabilises Amber’s kingdom.

toe dipping

So, she is called Bathory and she is jealous of anyone younger and prettier than she is (she was called ugly as a child, became a super model but her light had faded before the apocalypse occurred). We see her smudge blood from servants onto her skin, we hear that she slowly drained one girl whilst keeping her alive, causing her to become anaemic, and we see one scene with a girl suspended above a bath, her throat slit and a foot descending into the blood.

running a bath

That’s about it, but it is clearly taken from the Báthory legend, with Amber playing the role of a (post-)modern day Erzsébet. And, like the historic Báthory, the viewer is asked to question the extent of the woman’s crimes. She is no angel, certainly, but is she as bad as the legend seems to be painting her? But what about the film?

a smudge of blood

The acting was, at best, stagey – fake laughter and dialogue delivered from the boards rather than appearing naturalistic. That said I was actually rather impressed by said dialogue – the delivery could have been better but the writing was rather good. The world seemed desolate but cheaply photographed. If you thought too hard, then the post-apocalyptic world didn’t hold together – however on face value it was effective enough and in some respects didn’t need to be realistic. CGI bullet holes were probably the worst of the effects.

Yet somewhere in all this the film held me – it was perhaps a tad drawn out but I have spent worse nights with a movie. 4 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

Frightmare – review

Director: Norman Thaddeus Vane

Release date: 1983

Contains spoilers

There was a question mark in my mind as to how I’d treat the film on TMtV. Whilst main character Conrad Radzoff (Ferdy Mayne, the Fearless Vampire Killers & the Vampire Lovers) is an actor famous for playing a vampire (and so we have a fleeting visitation at the beginning of him acting as a vampire), there is a question mark on what he is when he comes back – I’ll discuss that in review.

In fact Mayne – who has starred as a vampire himself – played a character who was modelled quite strongly on Christopher Lee – to the point that old film footage of Conrad used early Christopher Lee footage rather than actual Ferdy Mayne footage.

about to bite

So, we have established he is an actor and in the first scene we see him creeping around in formal dress prior to putting the bite on a woman (Twyla Littleton) sat at a dressing table. The director (Peter Kastner) yells cut – Conrad has missed his mark, again… and its take 18 of the commercial. The director calls for a break and is sat looking at the script on the wall of a balcony. Using his walking stick, Conrad nonchalantly pushes the director to his death and then saunters off to his Rolls Royce.

addressing the college

Cut forward and a local college – and specifically the students who are in a film society – have invited Conrad to give an address. He seems charmed by the proposition but early into his speech it is clear that something is wrong and he suffers a heart attack. He is revived by one of the students, Meg (Jennifer Starrett), giving (almost perfunctory) CPR. Not long after this he awaits death and yet manages to kill the director (Leon Askin, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew) he was discovered by, from his death bed, and get himself, resplendent in his cape and formal wear, to his own coffin.

getting into his own coffin

The funeral features a pre-recorded eulogy from himself and his mausoleum had to be fought for but is massive and replete with flashing neon star. The film class attend the funeral and then, whilst driving around, return to the cemetery. The boys leave the girls as they climb the wall and then break into the mausoleum – by one of the gang, Stu (Jeffrey Combs, Necronomicon: Book of the Dead & Dark House), smashing a skylight. Inside the mausoleum is lit, with messages being given by Conrad on video. They decide to steal Conrad’s corpse and take it for a last night out, at the house where many of his films were made (and where he murdered the director).

the sceance

This is where we wonder just what Conrad is (and what the students were thinking, to be honest)? His corpse sits quietly, as one would expect, but his wife (Barbara Pilavin, Buffy the Vampire Slayer ) soon discovers the corpse is missing and calls in a medium. It is the contact she makes with his spirit that allows Conrad to escape (what we assume to be) Hell and possess his own body and he then goes on a murder spree, avenging himself on those who desecrated his tomb.

dark, but you can see fangs

Undoubtedly he is undead and, at least in one shot, he has obvious fangs (though they could have been his fake movie ones). He displays powers of pyrokinesis, telekinesis and telepathy (with a hypnotic element). He seems to be able to manifest a mist or fog. All that said he does not display any overtly vampiric traits. He is certainly undead and most certainly looks the part of the Lugosi-esque vampire but we have no evidence that he is actually a vampire. However, with the fact that he acted like one as a human and that he looked like one when undead I pitched in at review level for the film.

Jeffrey Combs as Stu

As for what the kids were thinking, that is one of the flaws with the film. The fact that a bunch of film students desecrate a tomb and steal the corpse of their hero made little sense, except in terms of setting the film up. Despite it all, however, I actually rather enjoyed myself as I watched it. Ferdy Mayne was a primary reason, he looked like he was enjoying himself and was chewing the scenery like the pro he was. It was also great fun to see a young Jeffery Combs in one of his earliest films. A film that held no sense of reality but revelled in that, it wasn’t great cinema but was good fun. 5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

La Stirpe di Orazio – review

Directors: Riccardo Bernasconi & Francesca Reverdito

Release date: 2016*

Contains spoilers

*the studio asparagus page suggests a 2015 date but the copyright on the episodes’ states 2016

Following a post on Facebook I discovered this wonderfully quirky web serial and, normally, it’d have an Honourable Mention as it is free to watch. However, it was so fun I decided on a review. The series is in Italian but there are English subs built into the episodes.

Toni Pandolfo as Orazio

La Stirpe di Orazio translates to Orazio’s Clan and follows three vampires Orazio (Toni Pandolfo), his partner Tacito (Paolo Vercelloni) and their vampiric son Nerio (Marco Brinzi). In a later episode we discover that Orazio and Tacito attacked Nerio in a movie theatre but, struck by guilt, Orazio gave him some of his blood, raising him as a vampire. From that day Orazio swore off human blood and Tacito followed suit out of love, the lack of human blood having a physical impact on him to the point that he uses a wheelchair and sticks. This is also why, when we meet them in the first episode, the hungry vampires are planning a heist to steal some chickens.

rescuing Sarah

As the story develops we meet Annica (Anahì Traversi), a vampire obsessed Goth who has fallen for Nerio, though he is less than committed – leaving her hypnotised in a graveyard rather than turning her and being with her forever. They also find an unconscious girl, Sarah (Valentina Violo), who turns out to be an Australian backpacker. They take her back to their caravan and Nerio ends up falling for her. She quickly picks up on them being vampires. She had a boyfriend, sort of, in the form of Dragan (Antonin Schopfer) and there is a small yappy dog hanging around.

members of Clan Vlad

Lore-wise we quickly discover that there are many (partial) myths around the vampires. They like garlic, can go out in the sun, reflect and can be photographed and are not warded by religious artefacts. I say partial because it is indicated that such things will affect members of Clan Vlad (a clan hated by Orazio). Vampires have hypnotic abilities and Tacito is adept at séances – he uses this power to contact the mind of the unconscious Sarah but soon is tuned into a football match. They can subsist on chicken blood and blood sausages, and there is a vampires anonymous organisation, but there is also a blood-pusher (Carlo Sortino) in the area and human blood is needed to be in peak condition.

Anahì Traversi as Annica

The series is well shot, with little tutorials embedded in episode (these can be viewed independently on the website). The cast are all great fun and, in short, I’d like to see a feature be made around these characters. Definitely one to look out for, you can watch it yourself at the serial’s homepage. 7.5 out of 10.

The IMDb page is here.

Penny Dreadful: Season 3 – review

First aired: 2016

Directors: Various

Contains spoilers

The first season of Penny Dreadful was excellent but also had some aspects that could have been better pulled together (less problems and more areas that would have pushed the season into the TV stratosphere). To me season 2 sorted any niggles out but I didn’t review it as it was definitively not vampire. The villains in season 2 were witches and whilst there was a blood bathing moment it was less rejuvenating and more perversion (as is mirrored in this season) and the witches' youth was maintained through diabolic pact with Lucifer.

So, out came season 3 and I must admit that I did not watch it as it aired. Rather I have waited and watched it on DVD. That did mean that I was cognisant before going in that there was some controversy around the season. Curtailed to just nine episodes, towards the end of the run the season was announced as the last and the claim was made that the series had been designed that way. If so then the flaws of season 1 came back aplenty in season 3 as we will discuss.

Ethan Chandler and Sir Malcolm

However the end of season 2 left us with our protagonists scattered to the four winds. Vanessa Ives (Eva Green, Dark Shadows) had used dark magic, murdered and lost her faith. Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett, 30 Days of Night) – revealed to be called Ethan Lawrence Talbot – had handed himself to Scotland Yard and was being extradited to the US on charges of murder. Sir Malcom (Timothy Dalton) was on his way to Africa to bury the body of Sembene (Danny Sapani). Lily (Billie Piper, Secret Diary of a Call Girl) – the Bride of Frankenstein – had abandoned both Victor (Harry Treadaway, the Disappeared) and the Monster (Rory Kinnear) (who himself had taken off to sea into polar regions) to be with Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney) and we’d be forgiven for believing they would be the “big bad” of Season 3.

Sarah Greene as Hecate

In actual fact Season 3 finally revealed Dracula (Christian Camargo, the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part 1 & the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part 2) and he is the one of two brothers (the other being Lucifer) cast down for the war on heaven and looking to love the mother of evil (personified in Vanessa). This idea that Lucifer was, in many respects, the spiritual component and Dracula the physical component of the fallen angels was a great idea and we discover later that, being physical, Dracula can be killed. Meanwhile Sir Malcom is found by an Apache warrior shaman, Kaetenay (Wes Studi), and convinced to travel to the US to save Ethan. The last surviving member of the witch coven, Hecate (Sarah Greene), is also tracking Ethan – obsessed with his power and eager to join forces with the werewolf.

Samuel Barnett as Renfield

A depressed Vanessa is contacted by Mr Lyle (Simon Russell Beale) and encouraged to visit an alienist, Dr Seward (Patti LuPone), whose secretary happens to be a Mr Renfield (Samuel Barnett). Unfortunately Lyle was horrendously side-lined in this season (he is sent out to Egypt and disposed of storyline wise), however this was an excellent way of introducing Seward and Renfield. The performance of Renfield by Samuel Barnett needs an especial mention. The Dracula storyline (including the rescue of Chandler), all told, was pretty strong (though could have been expanded and developed) and ended in a series finishing, satisfactory way. I should also mention that the monster storyline, whilst minor and low key in this season, allowed a brilliant performance by Rory Kinnear.

Dracula seduces Vanessa

We got to see the vampires a lot more, of course, though none like the higher-level minions of Season 1. Whilst Dracula lived in the House of Night Creatures (as it was put) he and his creatures could walk in the day and he does cast a reflection. He was immensely strong and fast, when he wanted to be, but also had a disguise persona that was absolutely ordinary and it was this that he used to seduce. Sir Malcom is bitten and the wound is cauterised to prevent infection and turning – this harked back to a few of the Hammer films. I have to say that I thought new (late introduced) character Cat Hartdegen (Perdita Weeks) was a fantastic edition and could have withstood some detail and expansion (though that might have been best left to a subsequent season if there was to be one). That said, if this season had a weakness it was in other storylines.

Shazad Latif as Dr Jekyll

The Lily/Dorian storyline started out well enough – and it was within this we got the blood bathing, of a type – but then petered out. The storyline itself (with Lily deciding to empower prostitutes to violently throw off male oppression) went nowhere, and more and more sidelined Dorian until a whimper of an outcome. Frankenstein, abandoned by Lily, seeks solace in drugs until he reaches out to an old college friend, Dr Jekyll (Shazad Latif). This could have been brilliant, the Jekyll character having an Indian heritage allowed the filmmakers to play with racism themes (as they did with Kaetenay in this season) in ways they didn’t in previous seasons and the Jekyll character himself had scope for a fascinating storyline – he became little more than a story cipher and thoroughly wasted the character and actor in doing so.

Rory Kinnear relives the monster's past

It was within these aspects of the show that the season failed. Whilst it had only one less episode than season 2 (and one more than season 1) it could well have played with the primary story and the side stories much more than it did. That said, it was enjoyable TV fare, of a much higher mark than many other series. There was not a bad performance in the series (I had criticised Billy Piper in the first season due to the accent she tried to use, once reborn as Lily she lost the Irish brogue and the performance she gave was stronger for it) and some outstanding performances – I have mentioned the performance by Rory Kinnear once but it needs to be mentioned again, flashbacks allowing him to act as the character was before resurrection, and Eva Green, as ever, stormed the screen with her nuanced portrayal of Vanessa. All told 7.5 out of 10, for what we got but what we could have had would have been even higher.

The imdb page is here.

Vampire: A Wild Story in Scraps and Colors – review

Author: Hanns Heinz Ewers

Translator: Joe E. Bandel

First Published: 1921 (German Language)

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Vampire is the third book in the Frank Braun trilogy and originally written in the German language by Hanns Heinz Ewers and published in 1921. This new uncensored version is translated into English for the first time by Joe Bandel. The book details Frank Braun's adventures in New York prior to the United States involvement in WWI. It is a love story with a vampiric twist!

The review: Hanns Heinz Ewers wrote three books concerning the character Frank Braun, the first was The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in 1910, the second (and easily most famous) was Alurane in 1911 and this was the third. My thanks go to William who spotted it on Kindle.

I had read Alurane and, whilst some class it as having vampiric overtones, personally I didn’t notice them. It is a strange beast, driven by the mad theories of eugenics and involving the creation of a woman (by artificially inseminating a prostitute with the sperm of a hanged murderer) who is without morals or empathy. Indeed, she is pretty much a sociopath but the book itself is his most famous and has been rendered onto celluloid. However, the eugenics aspect brings me to a point I wish to address.

Like many modern readers, the fact that Ewers was involved in the early incarnation of the Nazi Party makes me uncomfortable with reading his output. That said, it is also a fact that he drew the ire of the Nazis both because he was pro-Jewish – in book Braun’s mistress, Lotte Levi, is Jewish, indeed in this volume he tries to draw the idea of Germany and the Tribes of Israel having a joint manifest destiny – and also because he displayed gay tendencies.

This volume is really rather strange. It is clearly semi-autobiographical as Braun comes to America, by way of South America, as the First World War begins. He is co-opted by fellow Germans as a pro-German speaker to try and raise money for the war effort and keep America out of the war. At one point he tries to encourage Pancho Villa to attack the US in order that the American eye is directed to its own border rather than to Europe. These, albeit romanticised and fictionalised, mirrored Ewers’ actions in real life (until the USA entered the war and he was put into an internment camp).

However the reader becomes more and more aware that Braun has developed vampirism, as an illness. Only Lotte Levi seems aware of this – Braun is himself unaware – and she feeds him blood, a transaction he blanks from memory so we do not see this occur as the book follows his point of view.

As the book progresses, we get connections drawn to a blood cult as old as civilisation, and within the pages we get specific mention of Kali as well as tying in child killing Goddesses of all pantheons. Ewers connects this with Erzsébet Báthory (though mentions no direct vampirism or blood bathing, just murder) and Gilles de Rais and his crimes. The myth of the pelican piercing its own breast to feed its young its blood (or to spill on them to resurrect them) is mentioned. Late on we get a connection with man-tigers and other forms of feline lycanthropy – suggesting that the man-tiger drinks blood.

Braun sleepwalks and, without blood, becomes listless and rather ill. He believes himself to be the victim of a disease, though the doctors can’t track it down. He gets some temporary relief through a variety of drugs, but nothing permanent. Cannibalism is listed, at one point, as being symptomatic of a disease.

The book itself meanders and is, perhaps, less focused than Alurane. However it has interesting vignettes and is an unusal beast worth reading. 6 out of 10.

The Count of Monte Cristo: Gankutsuou – review

Director: Mahiro Maeda

Release date: 2004

Contains spoilers

The connection between Alexandre Dumas, père’s the Count of Monte Cristo and vampires is fairly obvious to anyone who has read the text. Dumas draws similes between the Count and that first English language vampire Ruthven, even drawing the name of Byron into the story.

Because of this the mash-up novel the Vampire Count of Monte Cristo was almost inevitable. So, also, was the Japanese anime (to some degree) that is subtitled Gankutsuou.

Gankutsuou displayed in neon

Unlike Baugh’s mash-up the story is lifted into the distant future, indeed in the year 5053, and becomes a sci-fi – and strangely this was one of the problems I had with this anime. I need to say at the outset that the vampire aspect is not necessarily obvious. Edmond Dante (Jôji Nakata) returns to Paris as the Count of Monte Cristo but he is possessed by an alien entity, which lives a symbiotic/parasitic existence, named Gankutsuou. The alien “surfaces” as a neon overlay on his face (and is slowly taking over him) but Monte Cristo also seems to have fangs.

more traditionally vampiric

There are references to vampires occasionally and we see him bear fangs in a typically anime way at one point. However, he does not seem to do much that one might call vampiric. He can only be killed by piercing the heart (and then only before Gankutsuou consumes him entirely and turns the heart to crystal). Dantes has allowed the possession as a means to gain his escape from the Chateau D’if and get his revenge on those who wronged him, knowing that eventually he will be no more and Gankutsuou will take over him completely.

Albert and Franz

So I mentioned issues and one issue I had was within the setting. For somewhere in the distant future, with interstellar travel, no one seems able to communicate without being face to face. There are sequences and plot points that rely on communication where an email, instant message or phone call would have sufficed. In other words, technology is almost ignored for a period feel and plot point, yet shouldn’t be.

Haydee

I was also not very taken with the anime style. We have drawn characters against a(n often 3d generated) backdrop – which is fine. But then clothes and hair have been filled using a Photoshop technique that adds a (for want of a better description) wallpaper effect that moves independently. It can be said that this gives textiles an unreal (and thus futuristic) look – but I simply disliked the technique and found it distracting.

Power Suits

The story stays fairly true to Dumas (though reorders the narrative arc away from the novel’s chronological order) but adds in the sci-fi elements that one would expect. The massive combat powersuits that individuals wear for combat (and duelling) looked fantastic btw, sleek and 3D modelled. The anime, however, did not rock my world. 5 out of 10. The imdb page is here.

Vamp or Not? Thirst (2015)

I suppose it’s natural that the name Thirst, for a film, summons up the concept of vampire movies. Indeed, the name has already been used a few times. There was the unusual Australian film, Thirst {1979}, with an added “the” there was the less than stellar the Thirst {2007} and, of course the magnificent Korean film, Thirst {2009}.

This 2015 film directed by Greg Kiefer is a sci-fi film and action vehicle that is pretty much by the numbers and you pretty much know what will happen to each cast member's character telegraphed way in advance. But hey, sometimes a “take your brain out” flick is what you need to pass the time. However, is it Vamp?

the sphere

The film starts with a sphere passing through space and entering Earth atmosphere. It burns across the night sky and is seen by good ol’ boy type Lenny (Jay Pease). He investigates the crash site and sees the sphere open and something egg like suspended – he takes a picture of it but something is there. Dropping his camera, he runs to his truck but the alien from the sphere jumps on the hood, a tentacle like appendage smashing through the window, latching to his chest and sucking the fluids out of Lenny, draining him to a husk.

the kids

Actually I needn’t really go much further – we have draining fluids and that is our big evidence piece. The film progresses with a group of troubled teens handed over to a programme aimed to straighten them out by force marching them through the countryside. The owner is Claire (Jes Macallan) but her business partner Burt (Karl Makinen) is being sued for assault of one of the previous kids (which he denies, saying he was restraining him). As the business is failing their normal guide has been sacked and so Burt’s young nephew Roth (John Redlinger, the Originals) reluctantly takes on that role.

the creature

Roth is, of course, the hero of the piece, which sees them attacked and harassed by the alien. The alien is 6 limbed (with four legs and two arms) big teeth and, strangely, seems to be cybernetic. The metal causes it to freak out electrical equipment (giving the humans a warning of proximity). It does beg the question of intelligence (it would appear it is more animalistic than sentient) or who created it? The fluid sucker is a tentacle like appendage that is produced from its chest. The V word is used once, when they find Lenny’s corpse but haven’t encountered the alien. The line, “Yeah, and it could have been a vampire too, but that’s not reality.” was almost using denial to draw our attention to the word.

feeding

It seems to readily know what its prey might be on this planet and does, also, capture one of the humans (and Roth’s love interest) as food for the baby, which latches onto the chest and nurses on her blood. This, of course, leads to a daring rescue. So, we have sucking of fluids – which is reminiscent of It! The Terror from Beyond Space – though the baby does seem to be extracting blood only. The film’s name is suggestive of the genre and there is an earnestly enunciated line suggesting “she is feeding from us” as if we missed it. As much as “It” was an example of an alien vampire, I think we could class this too – especially as the primary motivation for the visit is to feed by sucking humanity dry.

The imdb page is here.

Short Film: Interview with a Greek Vampire

This short film, coming in at under 10 minutes, was directed by Maria Modopoulos and dates to 2013. What is most interesting about it is the fact that Marina (Katerina Tarrant) is not just any old vampire but is, in fact, a vrykolakas.

Set in interview style the film’s purpose is to expound some of the vrykolakas myth. Marina tells the interviewer (played by Josse Masters-Leniveau and voiced by Josh Kvasnak) that she became vrykolakas in 1649, after she took her own life. She explains that her sister became one first – having answered the door on the first knock – as did Vasily, her husband.

Katerina Tarrant as Marina

Indeed she lists several ways to become vrykolakas – all lifted from Greek folklore and, as she puts it, more interesting than the usual blood transaction. She also explains that she doesn’t need blood but she does crave it (and it helps her complexion) and that vrykolakas are not confined to the night, but must return to the grave on Saturdays and are not as pretty in the daylight. But who could be interviewing her and why?

At the time of writing I couldn’t find an IMDb page.

From Dusk till Dawn – season 3 – review

Directors: various

First aired: 2016

Contains spoilers

For noting; the previous season reviews can be found: Season 1 and Season 2.

By the end of Season 2 (heavy spoilers if you haven’t watched season 2) Carlos (Wilmer Valderrama) had been killed, chopped into pieces and those pieces buried in different locations. Santánico (Eiza González) killed Lord Malvado and broke away from Richie (Zane Holtz, Vampires Suck), who took over Malvado’s crime syndicate with Seth (D.J. Cotrona). Kate (Madison Davenport) is killed and then, through blood from the Well, comes back with red eyes and the Titty Twister is destroyed.

Amaru possessing Kate

So, as the third series start we have the Geckos trying to make a go of their inherited crime syndicate but it turns out that the Titty Twister contained demonic prisoners from Xibalba – a demonic dimension where the culebras had been slaves. The Nine Lords of the Culebra had killed Amaru (played by Madison Davenport when possessed of Kate’s body and later played by Natalie Martinez) the Xibalban queen. The Well had contained her blood (and thus she possesses Kate’s body) and the Nine Lords had consumed her body. Amaru’s quest is to get her body back (for which she needs the ashes of all the Lords) and open the gate to Xibalba to release Hell on Earth.

in Amaru's thrall

We get new lore in that the culebras will heal very slowly from damage caused by Xibalban weapons. Also, there is one particular Xibalban demon who captures culebras, drains their venom and then remove the venom glands. This makes them slaves to Amaru and also immune to staking for some reason. Certain culebras can function in daylight through force of will – but may burn if they lose concentration. There is a shadow self that is orientated to Xibalba and this can be accessed to make someone an agent of Amaru.

Tom Savini as Burt

The series sees the protagonists and antagonists from previous seasons band together to fight against the peril that is Amaru. As well as the general arc there is the opportunity to face the characters against particular demons each episode. Carlos is rebuilt and returns to the series and we get a new character in the form of Burt (Tom Savini, Absence of Light, the Dead Matter Dark Craving, Lost Boys: The Tribe, Forest of the Damned, Martin & From Dusk till Dawn). Savini, of course, was Sex Machine in the original film, a role taken in the series by Jake Busey – the series deliberately pairs them together and the two work very well together – with a cracking throwaway joke about the groin gun towards the end of the season.

Eiza González as Santánico

However, despite a nice circular ending (though there is a thread in the final credits that could open a fourth season), this still wasn’t up to the first season. That said, like every season it was very watchable, Santánico is perhaps a tad side-lined but Madison Davenport is clearly having a great time playing the villain. All in all, score-wise, probably worth the same as season 2. 6.5 out of 10. The imdb page is here.

Honourable Mention: Blood Countess (2015)

Also known as Lady of Csejte, this 2015 film that was directed by Andrei Konst was released as Blood Countess on UK DVD. The cover taglines the film with “Satanist * Serial Killer * Vampire”, which boded well from our point of view. The tagline lies. Whilst there is the serial killer aspect (which is mostly hidden from view, bizarrely) there is not a hint of Satanism or vampirism given. Hence we move to giving this an honourable mention as Erzsébet Báthory – Anglicised in the credits to Elizabeth – is always of genre interest.

So, beyond a dvd box hinting of horrors not contained in film, the film does try to up the ante by making her a child killer rather than the standard lady killer of legend. Listing 650 children being killed in the opening intertitle, the film does contain a ledger of her kills – each illustrated and the tortures described in detail. This led to two thoughts. Firstly, the book is too thin to detail 650 murders in such depth. Secondly the film does not hold true to its convictions – it tries to up the ante by suggesting that the Countess (Svetlana Khodchenkova) is a child killer and then does not stray anywhere near that territory in reality.

the kids

However, because she preys on children the film then gives us two child protagonists, Aletta (Isabelle Allen) and Mischa (Lucas Bond). This could have been problematic except that Isabelle Allen offers a remarkably mature performance, and whilst Lucas Bond is perhaps a tad over enthusiastic his character called for that. They play a pair of gypsy children. He is an ace escapologist, whilst she has the gift of the gab. They are missing their older sister Katja (Ada Condeescu) who vanished the year before. They are observed by agents of the Countess, Dorata (Lia Sinchevici) and Ilona (Alexandra Poiana).

Báthory's agents

The agents steal the kids' hard-earned monies (that they hid in a fallen tree trunk) and then, when the pair start pickpocketing in order to recoup some monies, ensure they are caught and brought before a judge (Claudiu Trandafir, Dracula: the Dark Prince & Transylmania). They then offer to take Aletta in to the castle and, when she says she is responsible for her brother, extend the offer to him. There is an orphanage in the castle, it seems. The Countess takes a shine to Aletta and makes her part of her personal staff.

Hapsburg knight

Meanwhile there is a Hapsburg knight in the village looking for evidence of wrongdoing in the vicinity of the castle, in order to get the judge to agree to them searching the castle itself. The judge, however, is reticent and refuses even when they bring him a hand taken from a shallow grave. The search for Katja will bring the siblings into Báthory’s bad graces and that will snowball to trigger the castle search. But what of Elizabeth’s blood bathing?

Svetlana Khodchenkova as Elizabeth

We get a hint of it, with Aletta cleaning what looks like dried blood from the side of a steel bath. Báthory claims it is the residue from Parisian bath oils – good for the complexion. And that is it… No blood bathing scene, no claiming it magically makes her younger. We see one poor lad dragged off in the night and later see him alive but his hands bandaged. We then simply get a couple of descriptions of torture from the ledger the Countess keeps. We see a couple of adults murdered also.

trail of blood

It really is a cop out. Why up the ante to child killer and then chicken out of showing anything? Why make a film of Báthory, go down the “she’s evil” route and then not have a blood bathing scene? All in all there is very little point (in the opening scene we see her walking and, as the camera pulls back, she leaves a trail of blood – but it is arty not realistic and presumably ties into Aletta’s visions and the fact that she narrates the opening and closing of the film). All in all a wasted opportunity.

The imdb page is here.